With or without you: does partner satisfaction and partner-directed violence influence the presence of a partner on women's Facebook cover profile photographs?

Social network sites (SNSs) provide new opportunities for online self-presentation of millions of users. The cover profile photograph (CPP) along with written information regarding relationship status is a central component of online self-presentation, although their associations with actual romantic relationships are not clear. We investigated relationships between the presence of a current romantic partner on the CPP and the displayed relationship status and partner satisfaction, partner-directed violence and women's intrasexual competition with peers. A total of 28 % of the 158 women with a Facebook profile and being involved in a romantic relationship had their romantic partners on their CPP. As predicted, women with their partners on the CPP were more satisfied with their romantic relationship than others. Furthermore, women who did not have their partner on the CPP tended to conceal or lie in their displayed mating status suggesting that this may be a strategy how to attract another potential mate. The partner-directed violence and intrasexual competition hypotheses were not supported. Overall, the CPP and an honestly displayed relationship status is an expression of relationship satisfaction amongst women.

"Learning together, growing with family": the implementation and evaluation of a family support programme

The "Learning together, growing with family" programme is targeted to at-risk parents and children from 6 to 11 years old, with a preventive focus on promoting positive parent-child relationships. In this study, we examined the quality of the programme implementation and its influence on the programme results in a sample of 425 parents and 138 facilitators drawn from the first trial. Mixed methods were used, consisting of: parental self-reports on parenting dimensions, professionals' records on parental attendance and appraisals on six topics of the implementation process, and focus group discussions in which facilitators reported on the initial steps of the implementation. Results showed a high quality of implementation with respect to the group facilitator and the programme organization factors, followed by the coordination with services and the support facilities offered to participants and, finally, by the factors of fidelity and prior organization steps. Results of the focus groups confirmed that the prior steps were challenging and offered the more effective strategies. Better quality in the implementation factors predicted better parenting styles and parental competencies after the programme, as well as a higher attendance rate. In sum, this study demonstrates the importance of good implementation in at-risk contexts and provides some clues as to the key elements that moderate programme effectiveness.